More Cheese More Chocolate

I stopped by the Xcel on my way home from work on Friday to pick up my packet for Saturday’s Monster Dash Half Marathon, and it was the first event that I’ve ever run that had every participant’s name printed on big banner at the expo.  I thought the Kristen/Kirsten was surely a typo or they weren’t sure which spelling was correct so they erred on the safe side and printed both (just like my driver’s license!) until I checked the results and confirmed that we both exist (and I won by three minutes – holler!).  What are the odds?  Do you think she grew up wishing she had an American Girl doll named after her?

Matt’s parents were visiting for the weekend, so we took them to Brasa for carb-loading protein-loading.  I am a creature of habit and insist on ordering my favorite items every time we go (yuca fries, masa cakes, romaine and mozzarella salad), and in addition to the standards we added the fried catfish to the mix.  It was fantastic. One of the best things I’ve eaten all year.

As if a stomach full of slow-roasted meat and fried yuca wasn’t enough, I convinced the group that I wouldn’t be able to run 13.1 miles in the morning without a dish of ice cream from Grand Ole Creamery.  Mexican Chocolate…yum.

All of that food plus a few teaspoons of cough syrup had me asleep by 10PM, and I ended up getting an incredible nine hours of sleep before my run.  The run was fine – cold, plenty of downhill stretches, and my cough more or less disappeared until I finished, which was all that I could hope for.

After picking up my medal and nut roll, we headed home so I could shower and then went to Cheeky Monkey for lunch. Cubano, hash browns, iced tea, sunny window seat on a chilly day, happiness.

I swung by Bars on the way home for a selection of desserts/running rewards.  Half a macaroon later, I passed out for a rare but wonderful afternoon nap.

Eventually it was time to eat again, so we took our visitors to Boca Chica for mariachi and killer black beans, among other things.  Much like the night before, I ended my night with a big spoonful of ice cream, cough syrup, and an early bedtime.  Woo!

Continuing the delightful cycle of eating, sleeping, and more eating, I woke up on Sunday and prepared brunch for our guests to enjoy before the Packers game.

It had been far too long since I’d made ham & cheddar waffles, and having visitors around was the perfect excuse to get back on that train.  I made Marion Cunningham’s raised waffle batter the night before for the base and used smoked deli ham and sharp cheddar for the filling.

Ladle half the normal amount of waffle batter on the iron, top it with ham and cheese, ladle on more batter, and waffleize it.

The bottoms tend to get a little more brown since they’re cooking while you’re layering, but when you’re eating a waffle filled with salty ham and cheese and drizzled with warm maple syrup, the last thing you’ll be thinking about is whether the two sides are evenly browned.

The burnt cheesy bits are the best.

Other Sunday cooking included a pot of black-eyed peas, some of which found their way into…

Homemade tomato soup with pasta and beans.  Kind of random and thrown together yet satisfying.